Utah Gets an A in State Spending Transparency Study

MELBOURNE, FL, December 09, 2012 (Press-News.org) A study released by Activity-Based Total Accountability (ABTA) Institute at the Florida Institute of Technology gives the State of Utah an A- for providing transparency to state spending data. Utah topped all 50 states for transparency according to the ABTA.

The study analyzed each state's spending data and awarded a grade of A to F on the institute's state report card, which can be found at http://abta.fit.edu/report_card.

On a grading scale ranging from 0 to 100 points, Utah recorded a score of 87 and was one of only three states receiving the highest grade of "A-" along with Indiana and New Jersey. Utah received perfect reporting scores in the categories of supportability, data content, download capability, graphics capabilities, contextual information, and supportability via social media.

"This effort creates transparency in government spending to serve the taxpayer," says ABTA Institute Director Deborah Sater Carstens, an associate professor of information systems at Florida Tech's Nathan M. Bisk College of Business. She adds, "Accountability in government is achieved only when total costs are considered in light of all activities performed by agencies. To successfully track total costs, a standard system of measurement is required."

The ABTA Institute effort drew its data from the spending documents of all 50 states for a variety of departments and sectors. Links to these reports and tables are at: http://abta.fit.edu/data.

The ABTA Institute used a recent U.S. Small Business Administration grant to perform a state report card analysis and to fund training videos. The videos explain what ABTA is, how ABTA unit costs are developed and how to use ABTA to transform government. Video trainer Gary Van Landingham said, "ABTA has the potential to help citizens and their governments dramatically improve the efficiency of public services, and I encourage them to use the resources on the website to begin this process."

The ABTA Institute is a resource of the Nathan M. Bisk College of Business at Florida Tech. For more information, contact Carstens at Carstens@fit.edu.

Founded in 1958, Florida Tech is the only independent, technological university in the Southeast. The university was designated a Tier One Best National University in U.S. News & World Report. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs. Fields of study include science, engineering, aeronautics, business, humanities, mathematics, psychology, communication and education. Visit http://www.fit.edu for more information.